CDNA CLONING OF A HUMAN DISHEVELLED DVL-3 GENE, MAPPING TO 3Q27, AND EXPRESSION IN HUMAN BREAST AND COLON CARCINOMAS

dishevelled (Dsh) is a member of the segment polarity gene family in D rosophila which plays an important role in the early developmental pat terning processes. A human homologue QB Dsh (DVL-1) has recently been described, Here, we report the cloning of a second human homologue of Dsh (called DVL-3) by cDNA library screening. The human DVL-3 gene enc odes a predicted 716 amino acid protein which exhibits: 98% amino acid identity with mouse Dvl-3 and 49% with Drosophila Dsh. DVL-3 was mapp ed to 3q27. The expression pf DVL-3 mRNA was detected in 30 human cell lines and 2 primary cell cultures. DVL-3 mRNA was detected in normal human breast tissues (n = 4) and tumours (n = 25). Statistically, ther e was no difference in DVL-3 mRNA level between normal breast tissues and tumours. In human colorectal samples, DVL-3 was expressed equally in matched normal tissues, polyps and tumours. The data indicates that DVL-3 is widely expressed in human cells and supports the notion of a new developmental gene family for dishevelled which may have a widesp read role in signal transduction. (C) 1997 Academic Press.